Sounds ⚣ Brallon

Three

The group walks into the library, Melanie running towards the young adult section. Brendon and Ashley follow close behind, surprised by her energy.

"What's the author's name?" She asks, turning to the two.

"Benjamin Alire Saenz." They both say in unison, all of them giggling.

"Okay. So, um, here!" She smiles, taking the book from the shelf. She looks over and shows the two. "Is this is?"

Brendon nods as Melanie skips over to the check out. They both follow Melanie again and stay close behind.

"Crap. I left my library card at home." She turns and looks at the two, Ashley getting into her wallet and taking out the card.

"Here, just use mine." She hands it over.

"Really? Thank you!" Melanie exclaims, scanning the barcode on the card and tapping the screen a few times. She slides the book's barcode under the scanner and it beeps. She taps the screen a few more times and turns. "Alright! Go get Josh and them and we'll head to go get ice cream or something."

Brendon chuckles at Melanie's enthusiasm as Ashley makes her way over to Josh, Patrick, and Frank. She whispers something to them as they nod, heading towards Melanie and Brendon.

"Where are we going?" Josh asks, popping his back.

"To McDonalds or something for ice cream. Is that fine?" Melanie replies, smiling still.

"Yeah, cool." Frank mumbles, following behind them. Melanie skips out of the building and giggles, turning to look at the group as she walks backwards. "So. What's your favorite flavor?" She asks Brendon.

"I've never really had ice cream..." He replies, adjusting his hearing aid.

"WHAT?!" Melanie just about yells, stopping in place. "HOW HAVE YOU SURVIVED?!"

Brendon laughs and drags Melanie along. "I dunno, I just never really asked for it. To be honest, I'm not that adventurous with foods. My parents are pretty strict with my diet, too."

"That sucks. You've been missing out on the joys of life." Josh says while getting into the passenger seat of the car. Patrick, Ashley, and Frank cram into the back seat and Brendon slides next to them, making it an even tighter squeeze.

"You need to get a bigger car, Mel. We have too many friends." Ashley says, scooting foward so it's not as tight.

"Whatever." She replies, turning on the car as the radio blasts. Everyone lets out a scream as Melanie turns it down. "Oops." They all laugh and Brendon moves uncomfortably, not used to that much sound.

"Ow." Brendon mumbles. Josh looks over worriedly.

"You okay, bud?"

"I'll be fine. It just, yeah." Brendon mumbles out, laying his head back on the headrest.

"Alright cool. Anyways, um, how're you doing back there?" Josh asks, looking at how squished they are in the back.

"Frank, stop digging your elbow into my ribs, please." Ashley mumbles.

"Well I would move but Patrick won't stop squishing me closer to you!" Frank yells back.

"It's not my fault that I'm fat." Patrick says back, trying to make more room.

"Okay, you're not fat dude." Frank says back. "And if you would just move a bit more foward then I might be able to move my elbow."

Patrick then scoots forward a bit as Frank moves over into the little spot he's left and moves his elbow. "Okay, cool. We did it." Frank says, rolling his eyes.

"Thank god." Ashley says with relief, slouching a bit.

"You guys are so weird." Melanie says, giggling a bit.

"Says the person with half of her hair dyed a different color than the other and wears pastel pink skirts everyday." Ashley sasses.

"Shut up." Melanie bites back, giggling. Ashley laughs as she pulls up to McDonalds. "Just cones?"

They all nod and Melanie pokes her head out of the window. "Six regular vanilla cones, please."

"Will that be it?" A muffled voice comes from the speaker.

"Yep."

"Three dollars and twenty-four cents at the nearest window." The voice says, Melanie pulling foward.

"Josh, get in my purse and get out four bucks." She says, holding her hand out for the money. Josh does what she says and lays the money in her hand. She holds it towards the window as the cashier grabs it. "Keep the change."

"Thank you! Have a good day!" The cashier exclaims as Melanie pulls foward, a few cars in front of them.

"So, um, what do you wanna do after this?" Patrick says, looking towards Frank and the others.

"Probably just go home. I'm tired and dinner's soon." Brendon replies, fixing a hearing aid.

"Same." Ashley says.

"Bummer." Melanie says, pulling foward a bit. "You should come over to my place tomorrow, though. Maybe have dinner with my family."

"Maybe. I dunno. My parents are kinda really protective." Brendon says back.

"That sucks. My parents really don't care about anything so..." Frank looks over.

"Lucky." Brendon looks at him, smiling. Melanie pulls foward, grabbing a cone and handing it to Josh.

"Okay, um..." Melanie twists and hands Patrick a cone. She turns around and grabs another one as Josh hands one to Ashley and Brendon. Melanie hands the last two to Brendon and Josh, taking a bite into her own and driving away.

"Awesome. Okay, so I just?" Brendon takes a bite into his cone, his eyes lighting up. "Oh my god this is amazing." He says with a mouthful, Melanie and the other giggling.

"I told you." Josh says, licking his cone. They chuckle as Melanie keeps driving.

"I'll drop you off at your house. Where is it?" Melanie says to Brendon.

"Um. It's on... the next right and then the third house. The yellow one." He says, fixing his hearing aid.

"Cool." Melanie says, turning right and fixing her hair.

"Right here." Brendon says, Melanie stopping.

"Get out." Ashley says sternly, obviously joking.

"Okay. Okay. Rude." Brendon replies, chuckling.

"Cya." Ashley says back, scooting into Brendon's old seat as he heads up to his house. The car drives away as Brendon opens the door to his home, walking in.

He takes a deep breath and pops his back, taking out his hearing aids and setting them on the table. His world becomes silent again. Silence is all he needs.